


bohemian like you

by KilltheRhythm



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Arsenal FC, College AU, M/M, The accidental gay one night stand trope no one asked for, mild drugs/alcohol use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 05:09:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12646752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KilltheRhythm/pseuds/KilltheRhythm
Summary: Calum wakes up after a party with a hangover and some explaining to do.





	bohemian like you

~~~~There are many ways Calum expects to wake up on a Sunday morning. Sun peeking through the blinds in his face, yes. Pounding head and dry mouth, yes. In his birthday suit, covered in glitter, tangled up in sheets next to a man in bed, not really.

It's not that Calum was a stranger to waking up in beds that weren't his own; he'd been enjoying his college career thoroughly and was a house party regular. He's done it all, or most of it: take a hit out of a five foot bong, play beer pong with a man in a horse mask, jump into a pool from someone's roof. And hookups, he knows them too, the hazy memories all ending in some girl's bed. Life was generally great.

So he wakes up, head aching and limbs sore from a night of mischief. He knows a few things, that the night started with tequila shots at Rambo's, that tequila shots turned into a party and that the party moved to the Theo's. That he remembers in snapshots: drinking games, grinding with Sarah from English Lit, doing molly with some blonde. The logical path leads him to being sprawled out on this soft bed with nice white linen sheets feeling like death with his eyes buried deep in his skull and his liver telling him just how many mistakes he's made. It was a satisfying feeling in a way, the knowledge that he'd had a night out, done something.

And only when he rolls over to see just what lady he's been lucky enough to spend the night with does the shock set in. The lad he's seen before, maybe. He thinks they have astronomy together. Messy blonde hair, a shitty attempt at stubble (Calum felt for him on that one), he certainly looked familiar. Was it in the classroom he'd talked to him in, or had they conversed at the party? He must've known him somewhere, he looked too familiar. Calum has a million questions.

"Stop staring," the blonde groans, opening a singular blue eye. He doesn't sound legitimately mad.

"Sorry," Calum trails, looking for a name to apologize with, "err... what is your name?"

The blonde shifts around to get a better look at Calum, a rumbling wave of rising and falling sheets. He props himself up on his elbows. Now he stares openly at the other college student, and smiles. "Rob. You remember me, yeah?"

"Absolutely not."

Rob looks offended. And familiar. Calum feels a new tide of anxiety wash over him. "I'm the best lay of your life and you don't even remember?"

Calum isn't staring, but Rob has glitter all over his chest. It trails down his torso as well, but luckily the blanket was censoring anything R rated. He had confetti in his hair too, and still smelled faintly of liquor. Calum wonders if he is the same. Most likely, considering how quickly he'd gotten blackout drunk. "You must've gotten me wr-- you're a ma--" he pauses, rubbing his eyes. Rob is still there "this is a joke, right?"

It comes to him now, he'd talked with Rob a few times about NBA in astronomy. Rob liked basketball more than he did. He sat at the table with the Albanian guy with nice eyebrows. Calum mostly stuck to Rambo and Jenko and the Ox because they were all he knew. There were girls too, a parade of beautiful, faceless girls; featureless because they all really looked pretty much the same and Calum was always too drunk to see clearly when he hooked up with them at parties.

"No," Rob says with a grimace, clutching his head and then his lower back and then his head again as he sits up a little higher in bed. He seemed to be in more pain than Calum. "I could ask you the same really with all this shit you're pulling right now."

Calum doesn't know where to start: the fact that he apparently slept with this man, the faint sheen of glitter that he now realized covered both of them, or the unfamiliar bedroom he was in, complete with an old TMNT poster that had seen many better days. As far as he knew, he was straight. He barely knew Rob, but he could make some quick generalizations from the situation at hand. What the fuck had happened last night?

"What the fuck happened last night?"

Rob sighs heavily, and makes no particular move to either leave the bed or put clothes on. Instead, he faces Calum, the look of a long-winded story on his face.

\---

Rob had never been big on parties. Preferably, he'd just get faded with a few friends in the park and then go on a long walk, maybe get some food. His friends, unfortunately, always seemed to have other plans. Plans that involved parties. Rob would usually tag along, partially so he wouldn't feel left out and partially because he really wanted to get laid. At parties it was mostly with closeted dudes, but beggars couldn't be choosers, right?

Thar night he'd been at Granit's with Sead and some chick that thought Granit was her new gay best friend and Granit's neighbor Welbz (who Rob had met a handful of times and was thoroughly mystified by as no normal man should persist on a diet of only egg whites, vodka and EDM music) until suddenly they were biking the five blocks it took to get from Granit's to Theo's house. Rob groaned internally because he knew exactly what was going on before he walked inside. Within a few minutes he'd already taken tequila shots.

This was usually how parties went for Rob. Get drunk. Avoid accusations of being "a flamer" or the sort. Hook up, or at least try to (last party's attempt involved a lengthy discussion about dogs with his school's current Chilean theater-major star only to not even get a blowjob). He'd already done the first two, dodging a group of frat boys headed by his school's stick and poke tattoo-having heartthrob, Jack Wilshere. His friends were currently chatting with some girls from their algebra class, and Rob was not about to discuss multi variable equations or "getting totally swole, bruv" with Dat Guy Welbz. Now would be the time to find new people to talk to.

There was a group forming at the table in the kitchen. They were all the type of guy Rob thirst-follows on Instagram and then feels guilty about. By some gravitational force he was sucked in and paired off with the very bearded one (as opposed to the less bearded one, Jenko-- who he is pretty sure does not have a first name because no one has ever used it) for a game of beer pong. It was maybe probably a mistake because Rob doesn't like beer but party games with cute guys have an alluring force. He's already a little too tipsy to perfectly remember how he ended up in here.

When Rob turned to introduce himself to his mysterious new compadre, he was greeted by a familiar smile. He recognized Calum from astronomy class. Calum looked at him with a great sense of adoration (he vehemently denies this part, but Rob shushes him, saying "after all this is my story,") and instantly Rob grinned back. There was a connection here, he thought, before vehemently unthinking that. There was a game of beer pong to be played.

Rob has never played beer pong before. They lose miserably. It doesn't matter though; he has an idea of how this night might go.

Afterward, Calum tried to say something as he slumped lightly into Rob's shoulder. Rob wrapped an arm around him, smiling and hammered. He wasn't really listening. "The Ox-- he cheated... you should help me exa-- exact revenge."

"Big words," Rob said, half oggling Calum and half eyeing Granit (still accompanied by Stacy from calculus, and now Jack). "You 'lright?"

"Tired," Calum said, burying himself deeper into the fabric of Rob's hoodie. Rob realized that he was tired and drunk too, and that wouldn't do. He'd need to fix this.

In his defense, drunk logic dictates that it makes total sense to stagger over and buy molly from Jack Wilshire. Jack is really drunk too, so he doesn't really notice that Rob doesn't pay. And Calum is equally not sober, so he does molly with Rob too.

He feels warm, and not tired at all anymore. And Calum is right there next to him, amped up and smiling. He feels velvety. Everything feels velvety. Just because Rob can, he grabs Calum's arm and--

\---

"You-- fuck," Calum says, looking at Rob and shaking his head. His memory of last night is shoddy, but now he has a few murky pieces of it.

Rob wiggles his eyebrows. "We did fuck."

Calum fake gags. Still, the memories are coming back. Rob slamming him up against the wall of the restroom. Them trying to get back to Rob's on the bike, teeter-tottering constantly, and falling off every two minutes. Being unable to untie his shoes and face planting into the bed because of it.

"I-- you-- I think it was a mistake. Really." Calum shifts around, desperate to get out of the bed but also really not wanting to expose himself. "I don't swing that way."

\----

Rob narrows his eyes across the astronomy room. He wishes this class was held in a lecture hall like his English one, where he could ignore Calum easily, but instead the dumbass sat right ahead of him. He'd rather even deal with Wilshere and his poorly constructed gay jokes right now.

Calum does his best to not turn around and peer at Rob. He can feel his eyes on him. The girl who sat next to him had even pointed it out. This continues for the next two weeks. He's never really been actively disliked before, and he doesn't really know how to deal with it. He hates it though, especially considering that it was Rob.

Calum tries to slowly extend the olive branch of friendship. He asks about NBA games, offers to be study mates and even brings fruit snacks. None of it works. All of the NBA games are now "shite," Rob wants to study alone and suddenly he has an allergy to fruit snacks. Meanwhile Calum still feels angry eyes on the back of his neck.

Eventually he gets his confrontation. He waits in class patiently after it has been dismissed. Rob was finishing up his lab. He takes the time to look up from his work every few minutes to frown at Calum. Calum does not make a move to leave.

When he finishes with the lab he walks crisply past Calum, dropping it in the cubby. He maintains eye contact with him as he gets up and walks out of class. Calum follows him out the hall and down the steps. The large field of their university stretches out behind Rob, who had just turned around to face him.

"What the fuck do you want?"

Calum is taken aback. He pauses for a moment to find his words. "To be friends! We used to talk."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean shit." Rob frowns. "I'm not gonna let another straight boy lead me on. Not happening."

He turns on his heel, already walking away. Calum jogs behind, trying to get him to listen. Rob does not respond to calls of "I just wanted friendship!" or "I'm not trying to lead you on!" Rob keeps his head held high and acts as if he can't hear a thing Calum is saying.

Calum follows Rob through campus, into the fields and the gardens, past the science building and around the English wing. Rob is headed towards the apartment buildings right across from campus. He stays close enough to him to pass through every door the taller student unlocks, all the way up to his hallway.

Rob, with an exasperated sigh, whirls around to push Calum against the door. It's not in a sexy or romantic way, because he can clearly see anger flicker in the blonde's eyes. Their faces are close together, but he can read the situation and there is noticing good to come of this.

"You don't want me like that. Stay the fuck away." Rob hisses.

Calum gulps. "Look-- I'm sorry! I didn't mean to lead you on, but I really like hanging out with you. Just give me a chance."

The college student only a few inches away shakes his head. "I don't want my feelings getting hurt. You flirted and slept with me, and then you insulted and ignored me."

A loud cough from across the hallway snaps them out of their argument. Mrs Sandrini, the landlady of the apartment shakes her head at them, clutching her crucifix. She says something in their general direction but it is quiet and unintelligible. Rob pushes himself away from Calum.

"Stay. The fuck. Away." And with fingers towards his eyes motions, he shoos Calum away.

\----

Calum has been described as having the demeanor of a puppy. Maybe it was true, because he sure felt like a kicked one right now. He hated losing friends, but losing graces with Rob felt much worse somehow. He tries not to dwell, but dwell he does.

His friends tell him that he needs to get over his little crush. Calum always throws a strop and tells them it isn't a crush, but he still gazes at Rob longingly in astronomy. If he had his number he'd probably try to text him to apologize, but he doesn't and maybe that's a good thing because it'd be creepy if he did. So in general he did not interact with Rob. If they had to talk it was plastic and forced and Calum would rather never even look at Rob than have to deal with him pissed off and being fake polite.

He gets another chance in the form of Granit's party. He's not exactly on the invite list but he's friends with Alex (Iwobi), who is friends with everyone who has ever lived, so Granit says it's okay anyways.

He wonders why Alex was even going to this thing when he arrives at Granit's. The partygoers are all either gay men or straight women. Not really supposing when you considered the fact that Granit was majoring in fashion design. Wilshere and his ilk were nowhere to be seen.

If he was worried that he wouldn't see Rob or anyone else he knew there, that was quickly replaced by a new fear. This was not the frat parties or stoner kickbacks that he was used to going to. Calum worried as to what he'd do. What did people do at gay parties? This opened many more questions for him that he was not willing to think about currently.

The house that he'd just entered was full of people. It was dim, and almost all of the lights were either colored or novelty strings of bulbs. In other words, the entire living room, packed full of people, looked purple. There was karaoke set up, with some drunk ginger currently wailing along to My Heart Will Go On. Calum winces and makes a beeline for the kitchen.

He has to talk to too many people before he finally gets to the drinks. There are no beers. Only wine and mixed drinks. Calum maybe regrets coming, having already lost Alex. He's currently embroiled in a high stakes debate with a short Chilean man over the breeding of dogs. Apparently Alexis feels very strongly about the fact that "golden retrievers are the best dog ever, mi amigo." This is not how he envisioned his Saturday night going.

Calum slowly backs out of the kitchen and into the backyard. Music is blaring outside, and the mid autumn air is chilly on his skin, but everyone seems more subdued. That's not really what he cares about though, not when he sees Rob. He takes a sip out of his pitifully girly drink and makes his way over to the taller man.

The way the porch lights hit Rob's features make him seem almost angelic, with a glowy halo around his snapback and all. Calum feels his heart skip a beat. Rob turns his head to face him, and doesn't look like he wants to kill Calum for once. He'll take this as marked improvement.

"Hey," Calum says, maybe a little guiltily.

Rob gives him the tiniest smile. Calum's heart does a backflip. "Hey."

Only then does Calum notice the tall man sitting next to Rob. Emi looks at the blonde, and then to Calum, and then back to Rob. "Is this the guy?"

Rob nods. He looks at Calum, his face terrifyingly neutral. It seems to go on forever. Finally he nods, with a smile that doesn't fully reach his eyes. "Yeah, but it's alright. I'm trying to be more zen. No grudges."

This is some of the best news Calum has heard all week. "Thanks. I can leave if you want, though."

Rob shakes his head, patting the spot next to him. "Nah, come on over."

He sits next to Rob, and his night picks up from there. They end up playing some horrible drinking game, halfway through which Emi leaves. Maybe it's because Rob's hand is casually on Calum's leg, or how Calum doesn't ever seem to stop beaming at him. Neither of them are really drunk, but Calum still inches towards Rob. They'd moved closer together throughout the night, Rob's leg unconsciously resting atop Calum's. He's warm.

It might be Rob who suggests it or it might be Calum, but someone says that karaoke is still on and a fantastic idea. Calum has never sprinted so fast in his life. Sure enough, karaoke was still on. Sead, the big buff bull of a man himself was belting out a tearful rendition of California Girls. A small group of sorority chicks swayed lighters in the air, watching him.

Rob barges his way towards the microphone. As soon as Sead finished the last word of the Katy Perry song, Rob goes up to the karaoke machine, dragging Calum with him. "Selena?" He whispers to Calum.

"Yeah. How about My love?"

Rob winks. He looks nice in the purple light. Calum gulps, and prays to a god that he hasn't thought of in years. His heartbeat's in his ears and it overpowers the first thirty seconds of the song, which are thankfully only mindless vocalization.

Calum knows maybe only half of the words, but the same goes for Rob. He's heard him sing before and knows that Rob is a decent singer, better than him at least, but none of it bothers him that much. He belts out the lines he knows and tries to do the same for the lines he doesn't. Calum can tell he's terrible at this, but any self consciousness had been blown to the wind long ago.

The song is winding down in what seems like thirty seconds but isn't. Two drunk Indian girls were already waiting to grab the microphones. Rob hands his to the girl in front and whirls around to face Calum.

Calum can see the smile play on Rob's face. He looks nice, but then again he always had, from the moment Calum saw him lying in linen sheets in his bed, shadows from the curtains lining his features. He'd looked so fucking good. Calum knows what's coming next. Rob leans in, hands cupping his face, and they kiss for what seems like only a second but is actually long enough for one of the Indian girls to threaten throwing the mic at them.

They shuffle away from the karaoke set up, Rob's hand still on Calum' waist and Calum's hand still holding onto Rob's arm. Calum gets a flashback to when they last saw each other at a party. It was a little like this, but it didn't feel the same at all. Rob leans down and kisses him again, this time without any drunk girls to yell at them.

"I'm sorry about what happened last time," Calum says, hoping he's making enough sense. From the look of recognition on Rob's face, he is.

Rob smiles at him. "I was being a dick to you too. I'm sorry."

Calum almost apologizes again but catches himself. "I guess we're even then."

"Yeah," Rob nods, looking around the living room. He can see Alexis out of the corner of his eye, still discussing dogs with two of the other Spanish lads from university. Calum's response already obvious in his mind, he opens his mouth to speak. "You wanna come back to my place?"

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this has been in the works for like ten thousand years but college apps are kicking my ass. Enjoy? Please validate my existence with comments.


End file.
